Project Tomorrow - A Reassembly Filler Arc

[SuperCracker]

Maul's repeated banging on the Lotus Breaker and its subsequent bursts of energy were largely evaded by one Frederick Broll, sustaining minor injuries. But Maul somehow managed to not be Fred's next target. Gauntlets of the Breaker Knights... first kidnapped Katie. Rendered Rachel comatose. Then had the f***ing gall to take a shot at Kitty (with an attack that might actually do something). Ronin's shades flashed in the light and he turned towards Gauntlets with a downward slash. Only through Katie's stolen luck did the strike not cleave into the villain.

Ronin was not finished yet. As Kitty worked to feint Gauntlets, Ronin took two steps and pivoted. He raised his sword to shoulder-height with the point aimed at Gauntlets. He then stepped forward and thrust. Starsoul ran the Breaker Knight through at the shoulder. Ronin twisted the blade and then withdrew it none too gently. Though she was still conscious; Gauntlets was pretty much out of the fight.

Fred then flashed and used his absurd super speed to move outside of the museum and the Lotus Breaker's range. Sure, he was a big target since he'd gone all out on the last attack. But if Maul or Maces wanted to do anything about it, they'd have to come outside away from their life support system.

Spoiler

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Regen 1 bruised.
Standard: Attack
HP to cure Fatigued.
Extra effort to Surge.
Standard: Attack.
Move-by-Action + super speed lots: Move.

[Starsign]

Rene was... not doing well.

The reptilian humanoid was smashed backwards by Maul's shockwaves; The Builder couldn't keep holding his footing with the sheer number he's taken throughout the fight. The supported attacks from Gauntlets did not help as Rene's scaly body ends up lying on the floor. His greenish-yellow scales charred black as licks of electricity zipped around his twitching body. His claws cracked the ground as he tore his clawed hands into them just trying to get up on his knees.

Once, pain was a return to reality, a way to get the mad reptilian out of his insane mind and have a brief moment of clarity. Not anymore. There's too much going on for him. There's too much stress tormenting him. There's too much at state for him to hesitate. There's too much pain for him to realize. Burnt, shocked, and brittle, The Builder simply can't let pain get to him. He has to reject it!

Reject.

Reject!

Reject!

The black iris from his red eyes almost entirely disappear as he lets out a loud hiss. Against the strain of his bulky body, the reptilian tears his limbs into the ground before slithering up to the first enemy he finds vulnerable. Targeting the unfortunately-weakened Mace, the crazed Builder slithers wildly at and slams him with all his might! As if trying to tear away that bulky protection, the reptilian's momentum propels his claws into the armor and helmet's joints to tear it all off!

Spoiler: OOC

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This is a bit of a weak post from me but hope it suffices! Actions stated in the OOC, with Rene moving further away afterward (via his slithering momentum and Move-By Action) to preferably stay out of Maul's AOE attacks.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Round 6

Maul and Gauntlets managed to spring away from Sarah's portal bombs, but the thoroughly disabled Mace took his full in the face, cracking his visor. Serum injected the Builder with some more of her healing serum, further speeding along his regenerative abilities, although the curative concoction could only go so far at the rate he was accumulating damage.

Heat could affect Shadowcat, but that wasn't to say it didn't have its work cut out for it - she was already vibrating her molecules, so agitating them further only went so far. For the moment, at least, she ignored the flames, striking back with a rapid series of blows that...passed right through Gauntlet's blocks and her body, causing no harm...except for the part where they disrupted the Lotus Breaker's shield, leaving her open to Ronin. So really they caused quite a bit of harm. Gauntlets screamed as Starsoul plunged clean through her armor, reeling with agony. Then Shadowcat fell, ceasing to hover on air so that she fell through the Lotus Breaker Device and into the ground - and out of the burning cloud that Gauntlets had unleashed.

The Builder set upon Mace like a wild beast, slashing through the Lotus Breaker's barrier and violently tearing his armor and weapons away, leaving him functionally helpless on this battlefield. Well, doubly so, I suppose.

Deeming Mace a non-threat, Sarah-27663 pointed a hand and opened a portal in her palm, launching an artillery shell at Maul. It got close, but was sent spinning aside in a flash of silver light at the last possible moment.

Even so, the writing was on the wall here. Maul obviously didn't have the faintest prayer of taking the team down alone. He took to the air, smashing his way through the ceiling with his hammer, and shot away from the museum at supersonic speeds.

But whether out of spite, apathy, or a simple lack of understanding, he didn't direct the Lotus Breaker to cease its augmenting first. With no orders to the contrary, the Lotus Breaker unleashed another wave of empowering and protecting energy...it would keep going until it was deactivated.

Spoiler

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Okay. This battle is pretty much over. Gauntlets and Mace both need 20s to come unstunned so I don't even care enough to bother. Maul is fleeing at Speed 10, if anyone wants to give chase. Shadowcat, Ronin, and the Builder all got out of the cloud, so they only have to deal with the Secondary Effect. That's Toughness DC 25 for Shadowcat from the direct hit, DC 20 for Ronin and the Builder since they made their saves for half. I'm rolling another Will save for Katie and Rachel. If Katie doesn't take at least -5 Will or Rachel isn't at least Staggered, we don't even have to bother keeping further track or rounds or rolling anything else out. I'll just assume that you guys can disable the thing (including chasing down and taking out Maul if anyone with Speed 10+ wants to) before they're in any meaningful trouble. Otherwise, we'll remain in combat time and you guys will have to disable it before something bad happens to one or both of them.

Shadowcat Toughness (DC 25): (1d20+6)[16]. Bruised and Dazed. Whatever.
Katie Will (DC 21): (1d20+12)[27]. Literally did not fail a single save.
Rachel Will (DC 22, -4 for Bruises): (1d20+8)[19]. Another Bruise. Like she cares.

EDIT: Yeah, no, we're done here.

All PCs are on turn may post freely.

[CandyLaser]

"Sarah?" Sarah said. "Help me over here. We can remotely sever Maul's link to the machine. Everyone else, track down the one that got away. I've got some questions for him, after Katie's freed." Still in her armor, she flew over to the machine and began tinkering with it, directing her counterpart on how to perform the operations she'd discovered earlier to safely shut the machine down.

Spoiler: Actions

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I don't believe I can fail the Technology check to break Maul's link with the machine; assuming the other Sarah's in the same boat we can deactivate Maul's helmet in 2 rounds, or 1 with extra effort.

[SuperCracker]

Outside of the museum, Ronin saw one of the Breaker Knights making a... break for it. He was fast. Really fast. Ronin took a few seconds to take a deep breath and flick Breaker Knight blood from his sword. He never took his eyes off of the direction Maul traveled in.

When Fred was good and ready, he floated up into the air, took a step forward, then blasted off at a speed normally reserved for Quicksilver or the Flash.

Cut to Maul, who was flying away as fast as he could. He looked like he was home free... In a flash, an angry Fred Broll appeared in his path. He was too close for Maul to avoid and Maul was going too fast to stop. Ronin drew his sword and slashed hard at the last Breaker Knight as he came by. The slash itself stunned Maul and stalled his momentum. Fred took the pommel of his sword and smashed it down onto the back of Maul's neck (power stunt move object), firing the Knight down into the dirt outside of Gotham City.

As the villain twitched and tried to scramble towards his hammer, Ronin floated down to earth, landing with his foot on top of the Knight's weapon.

"You don't ever f*ck with my family."

Whatever retort Fred would have received was cut off with another slash to incapacitate Maul.

With that done, Fred grabbed the Knight and his Hammer and was back at the Museum in a matter of seconds. As he came in, he unceremoniously dumped Maul and his hammer on the floor, then dispatched the remaining stunned Breaker Knight's in a not too kind way.

[Starsign]

Pain can be rejected for only so long as Rene finds it slithering back into his mind like an aching disease. Mace, without his armor, is left helpless and, quite frankly, pointless to the reptilian. The only threat left was Maul. The only prey remaining taking off in its own defeat.

"No, no... no..." Rene hisses between his many sharp teeth. He can't let this straggler go, not like this. "Come back, come back...!" Another agonizing hiss comes out of Rene's mouth as he bends over forward. The gravity-manipulating mace and shield he now holds give off a gentle lull to keep him from falling flat on his scaly snout.

...Yeah, Rene's in no condition to give chase. Better leave it to the samurai mutant that's already taken off after Maul.

Rene puts the mace down and, perhaps bizarrely, presses the shield against his scaly underbelly to keep him held up. The technology behind this... thing is impressive, whatever tech this is. Where did they get that alongside that Lotus Br-

Oh ****, right, Katie!

Following Sarah's instructions, Rene slithers around the museum, coming off more as floating thanks to the shield, and one-by-one removes the helmets as fast as he can. Super-speed makes this trivial task all the quicker, especially when the damn machine is still going. That thing has to be shut down.

...But at least it's all over soon, right? With the last helmet removed, Rene makes a not-so-subtle squeeze of Agent Serum's hand. The two have been aching over this all morning. Soon, soon maybe that aching will end. Rene's been through enough horror as it is.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"WOO! We kicked butt!" Sarah-27663 cheered as the last Breaker Knight fled, signalling a clear end to the battle. The size of the smile on her face might have made her look kinda unfamiliar. Don't get me wrong, Sarah-27663 had solid combat tech and had used it to good effect before. But, well, let's just say she wasn't particularly used to clean-cut, unmitigated victory. Usually something went wrong...

"Oh right sure!" she said as Sarah asked her to help, blinking over to assist...mainly just following Sarah's instructions, though. And very carefully at that. Sarah-27663 had, you know, decent general technical know-how, but outside of the various blueprints in her head, actual super-science was...not something she was super-great at.

Serum seemed to have a similar idea to Fred - by the time he got back, she was already tazing Mace unconscious with her lightning saber and no particular sense of mercy. Kitty came floating back into the room as Fred KOed Gauntlets. She gave him a look, made a quick mental calculation, and then headed over towards Serum. "If you wouldn't mind passing out any more of those healing potions or whatever," remember, even if Kitty wasn't as big a nerd as Fred, she was still his foremost partner in nerdery, "I think a couple of us could use some." She meant Builder too, although he was already regenerating anyway, but yeah, she was staring at Fred with a "get over here and don't argue" look. Someone had to be responsible for making sure his body didn't actually fall apart, and since he wasn't interested in the job...

It was as Kitty was making that request that Rene took Serum's hand.

Spoiler: Perception DC 28, the Builder gets a +10 circumstance bonus

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It was very subtle and very brief, but for just an instant Serum squeezed his hand back, and her shoulders sagged just slightly, as if from relief.

She gave him a just-slightly-weirded-out look at the gesture. I mean, how often does basically a stranger just try to hold your hand? Not even counting the stranger being a giant lizard-man. "Um?" she asked him, some emotion cracking her mantle of professionalism for the first time. And that emotion was clearly discomfort.

Spoiler: Insight DC 28

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Although...there was also a flicker of fear in her eyes.

Between the helmets Rene had collected and her own tech skills and understanding of the machine's workings (and, sure, a bit of careful assistance from her alternate-universe self, I suppose), Sarah had the Lotus Breaker disabled in short order.

Spoiler: Sarah only, Expertise (Magic) DC 20

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Although, kinda interesting note. While Katie's magical energy readout had dropped some when the Lotus Breaker started using her powers, it hadn't...actually dropped too far.
And you noticed it didn't seem to be lowering pretty much at all during those last few uncontrolled pulses of the machine's power. It ended up hovering a bit over 30%. Even taking into account augmentation from the device, you've seen Katie doing intensive spellcasting often enough to know that she should not have that much energy left after all that.

Spoiler: DC 25

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Given that A) Katie's magic is based at least in some part on belief, B) Katie's always said that raw magical oomph isn't really her thing, and C) Katie was not sufficiently conscious to believe or disbelieve anything there, this was evidence suggestive (though certainly not conclusive) of the possibility that Katie might have been technically capable of more magical output than she believed she was, if those very beliefs had not been standing in the way of it.

The wires retracted from Katie, the glass door of the cell slid soundlessly open, and after a few moments, she blinkingly opened her eyes. And pretty much immediately half-collapsed forward to throw a hug around Sarah (since she was closest).

And it should surprise nobody to know that despite (and, eh, maybe also kinda because of) whatever she had gone through in the Lotus Breaker, Katie's first concern was for someone else. "Oh my God Sarah oh thank God you're okay! Oh God Rachel! Is Rachel okay? She was trapped in Cerebro and-"

"Um..." Sarah-27663 interrupted awkwardly, standing like a statue in Katie's arms. "I think you've got the wrong Sarah..."

Katie blinked and kinda stumbled back, looking between the two and actually noticing the differences. "Oh. Um. Sorry. Uh. ...Hi," she said, set back on her heels for a second, but collecting herself quickly enough to give the correct Sarah a hug this time, and honestly an even tighter one to make up for the mistake.

"Hi... Man this is a weird universe..."

Kayla, who had evidently been either paralyzed with terror or just completely in over her head watching the battle and as such silent throughout, finally breathed over Ronin's commlink when Katie was freed, "Oh thank God!"

Her voice was a little garbled though as nearly-simultaneously Hank's voice came in, "Rachel's back. I'm checking her out but so far it doesn't look like she's suffered any long-term damage. Will you hold still?"

Rachel's voice followed up, just a touch blearily, "I'm fine. Barely even a nosebleed. Is Potence alright?"

...Obviously, it's a hero thing. Speaking so as to be heard both in person and over comms, Kitty ordered, "Right. We're going the X-Mansion. Healing and medical examinations for everyone. Hank decides the order in which people get checked out. No arguments." Kitty considered herself to be way too young and hip to be Team Mom but here we are apparently.

[SuperCracker]

Ronin stood by and waited for Katie to be taken out of the Lotus Breaker. Though not seriously injured, he was bleeding in several spots and looked like he at least needed a band aid or two. He wiped Starsoul clean and formally sheathed the sword back into it's dark purple sheath. Fred placed his left hand on the pommel and patted it twice in appreciation. Another battle won. Another day saved.

From behind his shades, Fred caught Kitty looking at him and assessing his damage. Something pathological in him didn't like that... Wished she had been putting her attention on Katie or checking on Rachel. But he gave her a small smile and a nod of acquiescence. His smile lingered warmly. Side note: If they ever worked with Serum again, he was definitely going to call her stuff healing potions. Exclusively.

Katie came out from the machine and acted like Katie. Ronin heard Hank and, most importantly, Rachel. He softly signed in relief. He agreed with Kitty that all the injured should go immediately to the school. He made his way over for Katie and Kitty.

"As long as it's Rachel and Katie first, I'll agree to that." He gave Kitty a smirk.

" Hey kid," he said to Teen Saturn, "I think you have what it takes to be a good street sam. If you ever want, I'll take you on as a student "

Fred smoothed Katie's hair and touched his forehead to the top of hers in a familial gesture. "None of it was real. None of it will be real. Everyone is ok."

He stepped back and took Kitty by the hand, bringing her in closer. "If anyone needs a ride to the school, now's your chance." After anyone who wished to came over, he took a glance at his wrist. They all vanished and reappeared in the school infirmary.

"Katie. Sit." He said with authority. "I'll be right back Kayla is already here somewhere." Fred then headed off to look for Rachel. The combination of where they had left things and her being dramatically endangered by the Lotus Breaker made him feel like he had to do something. When he found her, he scooped her up in a hug and held it for a long time. It's complicated... But just like for Katie, he will always be there.

[Starsign]

It only took a few moments before Fred offers a trip to the X-Men Academy that a pair of scaly, charred arms wrap around Katie in one of the most desperately heartfelt hugs she's ever been given.

"K-Katie!"

Rene's shaken, pained voice hisses out as he holds her tightly. His red eyes begin to water in sheer relief of the outcome. Katie's alright; she's alright! It's impossible for him to imagine what she was going through, what kind of nightmare brought out her powers like that. To even think about it squirmed his cold-blooded stomach. He's had his reality and mind twisted, tortured and turned by the Totem and it left the Builder scarred for life. How much worse could Katie's time have been?

His red eyes twitch over to Serum, aware how important this must be to her. "Oh thank god, thank god..." he says quietly, only loud enough for Katie to hear clearly. His tail wraps around his scaly, bent legs as he tries to calm down. "Katie, are you alright? What happened? Why did this happen?!"

...Yeah the reptile-man is not quite calming down. For all he knows, these knights had attacked her apparently randomly. Yet they also had that giant, damn machine all hooked up just for her. Why?

It's actually quite telling that he fails to notice in his sad panic that he ends up coming along with Fred, Katie, and the others back to the Academy. It ultimately didn't matter to him. What's important is that everyone is now safe.

[CandyLaser]

Sarah predicted the hug was incoming and bore it with her customary stoicism. "I don't know why you're concerned for me. You're the one who needs medical attention. Speaking of which..." She extracted herself from the hug as best she could and turned to Kitty. "I can check everyone out as well; I'm a fully qualified doctor and surgeon, and I've got medical facilities ready. But I understand if you'd prefer to work with people you know."

Spoiler: Skill Check

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Expertise (Magic): (1d20+21)[36]. I'll use Polymath to grab Second Chance and Skill Mastery, so if that fails I'll take 10 on the reroll.

Addressing Katie once again, she dropped her voice, pitching it lower so as not to be overheard. "I noticed something odd about your magic, Katie - I think you have more magical power than you've previously displayed. We can talk more about it later, but it's worth looking into."

[Quellian-dyrae]

As Rene wrapped her in a big bear (lizard, whatever) hug, and Fred rested his head against her's, Katie briefly closed her eyes and let out a slightly shuddery sigh of relief. There was nothing, but nothing, that brought her more comfort than being close to the people she loved.

Rene asked her if she was alright. "I'm..." she began to say, but...she was not Fred. And the word she had intended to say was not truth. She was ecstatic that the past few subjective days she had experienced were not reality, that her friends were alive and her world still spinning. But the memories remained, as all her memories did, locked indelibly into the steel trap that was her head.

She was relieved, absolutely. But she was not fine.

He asked what happened and why. Katie just gave a minute shake of her head. While she wasn't exactly opposed to sharing her troubles with her friends, she wasn't ready. Right now, the memory of those visions, those experiences, were stuffed in a box in the basement of her mental castle. Out of sight wasn't out of mind, but it was close enough for the time being. She'd have to unpack that box eventually, but not now.

Fred said it wasn't real, and it won't be real. She pressed her head a bit harder against his. She recognized the thoughts behind those words, just as he had her's back in Troy. He knew.

After witnessing the bared power of Darkseid (or at least, a very realistic facsimile thereof)...because she was a wizard, she had to be honest with herself and admit she wasn't sure she believed him. She took her fears that he was wrong and stuffed them, too, in the box in the basement.

"Thank you, you guys," Katie said quietly, the words seeming entirely insufficient to the feelings they were meant to convey. "And, and I'm sorry, that you had to-"

"Oh please!" Kitty cut off her apology. Katie reached out to hug her (giving Sarah the chance to extricate herself) and...her arm passed right through her. Kitty wore an impish little grin, and Katie shot her a tiny glare, and she was solid for the second attempt.

Sarah offered her services as a doctor, and Kitty said, "Even better!"

Fred offered transport. Sarah-27663 tentatively walked over. She wasn't...super-sure that invitation was strictly meant for her, but it was probably smart to stay near the Sarah that, you know, lived here, and stuff. It also gave her the opportunity to ask, "Um...what's a street sam, now? I'm not sure we have those where I come from..."

Serum didn't approach. She may have worn a little satisfied smile watching the group, but she maintained professional decorum. "I'll call in a team to handle cleanup here."

Katie looked her way with a slightly puzzled expression. She didn't know Sarah-27663 personally, sure, but she understood the gist of who she was (she was actually really grateful, and a little bit ashamed, that Sarah had called in one of her alternates for the rescue - she knew she didn't really do that as much as she used to, and while the super-science went over her head, she understood it well enough to know that it was harder than it used to be). But...she didn't know Serum at all. "Um...thanks?" she asked as much as said.

Serum was intuitive enough to get it. "Serum. Agent of SHIELD," she introduced herself. "Fury sent me."

"Oh. ...That was nice of him. Um, thank him, for me?" Katie requested.

"Sure."

"You should come with us, actually," Kitty said. "We're good on doctors, but you're the one with the healing potions."

"I have healing," Katie said immediately in her usual idiom, reaching out with a few dim sparks of light flickering briefly around her hand before they faded out and she wobbled unsteadily. "Woooooooah. Okay, I guess I don't have healing. I thought the stupid parademon fight wasn't real..." More evidence for Sarah, though - since Katie objectively had enough magic in her to cast a few healing spells, the only explanation for why she couldn't now was that she was unable to tap into that energy for some reason, probably unaware it even existed.

Serum flicked her thumb down her lightsaber hilt a few times, releasing some small syringes of her serum and handing them to Kitty. "Probably best we don't leave these guys unattended."

"Fair enough," Kitty said, taking the syringes. The next moment, the group was in the X-Mansion infirmary. Kitty passed out the syringes to the injured, taking one for herself (she had a burn on one arm from Gauntlets, it wasn't anything serious, but it seemed like a good opportunity to lead by example).

Katie gave a kinda lopsided smile and sat down at Fred's order. Her eyes lit up when he told her Kayla was here.
She'd have linked her with Shared Awareness immediately if she had enough energy to power anything more than a cantrip. One dose of the serum easily healed the little holes from the Lotus Breaker's wires and such, and the big bruise on her face.

She gave Sarah a curious look when she told her she thought she had more power than she had shown previously. Between first being unable to defeat or escape the Breaker Knights, and now how exhausted she was, she sure didn't feel like it. "O-okay," she said when Sarah told her they could talk about it later.

Kitty set a hand wordlessly on Katie's shoulder, and followed after Fred, wanting to check on Rachel for herself as well. When they got there, Hank was shining one of those little doctory magnifying glass light things (I'm pretty sure that's the accurate medical terminology) in her eyes and she was being patient. Emphatically. There were some little streams of dried blood on her face, running down from her nose, and a small puddle of blood on the floor by Cerebro. But honestly, as psychic nosebleeds went, Fred had seen worse. Kayla wasn't in the room anymore though, and they hadn't passed her on the way.

Rachel stood kinda frozen when Fred hugged her, for juuuust long enough for it to be awkward. Then she tentatively returned the hug. Of course, since Rachel enjoyed openly acknowledging her feelings about as much as Fred did (and, frankly, had already done quite enough of that today, before being so rudely interrupted), she pretty much immediately retreated to the more comfortable territory of affectionately-teasing snark. "Yeah, yeah. You're such a sap, Broll."

Maybe it wasn't warmest response to an outside glance, but you had to know the culture. If was a familial thing. That kind of sisterly ribbing...it was normal. Not capital-N Normal. Not normal-with-extreme-prejudice. Just...normal. It was exactly the sort of response Fred might have expected from her year ago, in a situation like this.

[Starsign]

Rene isn't a threat to the X-Men, but the reptilian-humanoid thought best to keep himself in the mansion's infirmary. The mutants here probably aren't used to an actual monster wandering the halls and he certainly is in no condition to do so. His charred and static scales roast in pain even as his regeneration heals the worst of it; nevermind the aching and soreness that usually follow his recovery.

So the rather large, cold-blooded, green-yellow scaled reptilian sits down on the infirmary floor, staying next to Katie as she rests on the chair. Rene almost feels lost. What can he say to Katie? She's exhausted, tired, and gone through whatever hell that the machine sent her through. Rene knows better than anyone that you don't recover easily from trauma. There's this sense of... hopelessness... in Rene that he really can't do much for her. His own experience is like throwing horror-inducing jade-colored glasses over his eyes.

...It's a terrifying experience to live with.

Unsure and awkward, Rene lifts his left clawed hand and places the cold palm gently on Katie's own right hand. The lack of heat from Rene's cold-blooded body is not entirely comforting but it still gives the feel that there's others looking out for her. "K-Katie?" His coarse voice is still rather shaken. He's not over his panic from earlier. "Should I let Mr. Arlington know you're alright?" Hopefully Gethsemane was able to help the old man while everyone else was in Gotham. Arlington will want to know the good news as soon as possible.

[CandyLaser]

Fred offered transport. Sarah-27663 tentatively walked over. She wasn't...super-sure that invitation was strictly meant for her, but it was probably smart to stay near the Sarah that, you know, lived here, and stuff. It also gave her the opportunity to ask, "Um...what's a street sam, now? I'm not sure we have those where I come from..."

"Street sam..." It took Sarah - the local Sarah - a fraction of a second to recall the phrase, and when she answered it was like talking to a dictionary. "Street sam: short for street samurai. A term from the roleplaying game Shadowrun. Street samurai are a popular character archetype from that game; they specialize in physical combat and typically have extensive cybernetic augmentations."

After arriving at the school, Sarah busied herself checking over the patients, verifying the excellent work done by the medical staff there and lending a hand wherever necessary.

She gave Sarah a curious look when she told her she thought she had more power than she had shown previously. Between first being unable to defeat or escape the Breaker Knights, and now how exhausted she was, she sure didn't feel like it. "O-okay," she said when Sarah told her they could talk about it later.

"Don't worry about it for now. I can build a device to establish your levels of magical energy. Science doesn't lie, even about magic. If I need to I can introduce you to Sarah-33. She works with the League of Shamans alongside Supermage." Sarah had always believed that magic was just another sort of energy, one which operated along an orthogonal set of natural laws. And there were no laws that were beyond the comprehension of a Saturn.

[SuperCracker]

Fred pulled back from the hug with a small smile. The friendship felt repaired. A massive weight was off of his shoulders. Fred withdrew slowly. “Yeah,” he responded, “But if you tell anyone I’ll hurt you.” He was wearing shades still, but she’s a psychic. She knew he winked anyway.

And, using the ending hug as cover, Fred stuck her in the arm with the syringe that he had been given (that had been intended for him). “Healing potion.” He didn’t look at Kitty. He knew what look he’d be getting. “Come on, you’re going to the infirmary.” He waved her down the hall as he turned to walk, side by side with Kitty as usual. After giving Rachel the serum, he was once again the most beat-up person in the room. He cared as much about it as he usually did.

“Hey Kitty. Got a spare?” Starsoul chimed in. Though the sword almost always followed Fred’s game plan, it too could get annoyed. “Don’t hand it to him. You can’t give him stuff like that.”

Fred didn’t comment. “Where did Kayla go?” Remembering that he’s on comms with her… “Kayla, where are you?”

As the troupe marched into the infirmary, Fred gestured to Teen Saturn. “What do you say, kid? I can teach you a thing or two. If you’re anything like our Sarah Saturn, you can portal here anytime.”

[Quellian-dyrae]

Katie gave a kinda embarrassed grimace when Rene asked if he should tell Mr. Arlington she was okay. "Mr. Arlington knows abut this? I hope he isn't too worried..." she said. She reached for her phone and nope that wasn't there. Sigh. "Um, yeah, Rene, if you could let him know I'd appreciate it." Katie wasn't quite as obsessive about it as Fred, but it still bothered her to have worried everyone.

"I've played one a couple times. They're fun," Katie added to Sarah's explanation, as if it would help with the decision.

Katie wasn't particularly familiar with other dimensions, but... "...Is Supermage what I think it is?" she asked a bit deadpan. Because if it was, that seemed entirely unfair. She wondered how that would work, a machine to read her magical energy. She'd never thought of something like that.

Rachel looked pointedly at Fred's injuries, then at the tiny little spots of blood on the floor from her nosebleed, and gave him the exact same look Kitty was giving him. Kitty just gave an exasperated sigh in response to Starsoul's question. She filled Hank in on the walk back.

Kayla replied to Fred in a kinda rushed, awkward stammer, "It, I, um, Bea- I mean, Hank, or, well, he came in and I didn't want to be in the way, so I just went, to, you know, watch and...I'm on my way back!"

Spoiler: Insight DC 15

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...Yeah she was totally paying more attention to the video feed than where she was going and got lost.

Spoiler: DC 31

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...No. Actually, she's totally lying.

When the X-Men got back into the infirmary, Katie jumped up and went to give Rachel a quick hug. "Thank you!" she told her fiercely, before stepping back. "Are...are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. You good?"

Katie hesitated a moment, still not quite willing to declare herself "fine", but instead replied with all the cheer she could muster (which, this being Katie, was not-inconsiderable, trauma or no trauma), "I'm...definitely better!"

"Alright, let's make sure of that conclusively, shall we?" Hank suggested, guiding Katie back to her seat to give her a brief cognitive evaluation (since he already had Rachel and he knew better than to think Fred would consent to treatment before everyone else was declared in good health).

Sarah-27663 seemed a bit hesitant, although she was absolutely self-aware enough to recognize that she could use some tutelage. Ever since her grandfather had died, she'd been basically having to figure everything out on her own. If you had to describe her situation in as few words as possible, you probably couldn't do much better than "in over her head". On the other hand, what she most needed to get a handle on wasn't really the fighting stuff. Then again, being better at that might at least reduce the need for trying to put together some crazy contraption to hopefully save more of the day than it set on fire... "I...guess? Um, depending on how possible it is, I suppose. Travel between universes can be...finicky, sometimes."

"Um, when we're done here," Katie said, "We should...probably go back and, like...destroy that machine thing. Right? That...doesn't seem like something that should be left in-tact?"

[CandyLaser]

"I'll take care of it," Sarah volunteered quickly when the subject of destroying the Lotus Breaker came up. It was the first time all day that her normal cool, detached resolve seemed to break. The truth was, she was excited about the chance to investigate an unfamiliar technological base She didn't have much Asgardian tech in her vaults; her grandfather had been pretty much entirely terrestrial when he made his initial trip back in time, so that's what she had. Now that Katie was safe, Sarah could move on to more interesting tasks.

[Starsign]

Feeling a bit relieved at Katie's relative safety, Rene stands up and taps the small commlink hooked on the earhole on the right side of his head. "Gethsemane?" His voice still trembles slightly. As much as it's over, the reptilian can't help but still feel a bit hopeless and, in a sense, useless. Not that he is useless; he's done a lot to help save Katie today. And yet, the reptilian humanoid feels anything he can say to Katie isn't going to help ease her trauma.

Now it's not entirely his job to do so. That's what Fred is for and that's presumably what this academy can help with... But it's never great when all Rene can do is hope and pray.

"Katie's safe," he continues, telling Gethsemane over the commlink. "Let Arlington know she's alright." He keeps the message short and quick. Even with how rough his scaly voice is, especially over a static commlink, Gethsemane should be able to tell how shaky Rene sounds. The not-so-sane and inhuman creature does not exactly inspire confidence.

Trying to get his mind off things, Rene looks back to Sarah-27663 as a thought comes to his mind. "Hey, Sarah?" he asks, pauses, then clarifies, "The other Sarah. You mentioned me before when we met. What was I like in your universe?" This other Sarah mentioned Rene as if he had Superman's recognition, an idea that fails to appear even in Rene's best dreams.

At Katie's question, Rene grits his sharp teeth together beneath his closed mouth. He doesn't like to just leave his friend but she has made a good point. "Oh, I'll go back," he speaks up, contrasting Sarah's excited words with his more-shrill mood. "We gotta tie up all the... uh, armor guys we left there." Who were they, anyway?

[SuperCracker]

"Tie up," Fred said both quietly and sarcastically. More like throw them into the sun. He sat down in one of the chairs beside Kitty, waiting until Katie, Rachel, and Kitty had been thoroughly cleared by Hank before submitting to medical attention. Fred took a warm wet cloth and wiped the blood from his face and touched up his cuts. Nothing that would prevent him from fighting... or going back out that evening for more work.

"Kayla, don't touch anything," he gently chided. Super genius getting lost. Funny.

Frederick Broll smiled a small smile, looking out at his friends. Looking at Katie. Another day saved.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Katie nodded gratefully when Sarah offered to deal with the machine. Suited her fine. She needed a nap!

"Thanks, Rene," she said with a gentle smile.

"Acknowledged," Gethsemane replied. Rene could hear over the commlink as she said, "Just heard from Builder. Potence safe."

Sarah-27663 looked...a little bit put on the spot at Rene's question. "I mean...I don't know him personally just...he has a reputation, I guess. I don't really know how best to explain it. It's like...he's not the most powerful of the Green Lanterns, or anything, as I understand it. But I guess it's kinda a big deal that his constructs are permanent? I think that's where he got his name."

"I'm not seeing any indications that either of you will suffer any long-term damage. It would probably be best to get a CAT scan to be safe-"

"I've already looked both of our brains over. They're fine," Rachel interrupted with a bit of a smirk. CAT scan. Please.

"-but other than that, I think all you two need is some rest. You may consider that doctor's orders."

"Sold!" Katie agreed brightly.

Hank went over to Fred, caught his stare, gave a little sigh and went to Kitty first. She had taken the healing serum potion like a good superhero and as such was fully healed, but nonetheless she continued to lead by example and let Hank confirm she was uninjured. Then he went over to start bandaging Fred up, or stitching him up where needed.

Kayla arrived about then, coming in at a run, and Katie was on her feet with a speed that belied her fatigue. The twins hugged each other tight.

"I was so scared," Kayla whispered.

"...Me too," Katie said, just as quietly.

After several moments they let go of each other, and Kayla looked to Rachel, and to Fred. "Thank you," she said, a bit awkwardly...maybe even a bit guiltily, before sweeping the room with her gaze. "A-all of you. Thank you all so, so much!"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Let's see, I don't really have much else planned here, so it's all you guys. If you want to keep going here we can, or we can shift over with my next post. I haven't heard back from Herod yet so I'm going to send him another PM, but in the meantime I figure I'll run some "sandbox scenes" if that sounds good to everyone. If I haven't heard back by the time those are done, we'll figure out what to do from there.

[Starsign]

I'm a Green Lantern?!

Rene's jaw-dropped mind silently thinks over Sarah-27663's words about his alternate universe self. He's not the most familiar with the Lantern Corps. In fact, he mostly knows that the Green Lanterns are a big deal in the universe and that some of them are heroes on or from Earth. But that's enough for Rene to realize how significant his alternate self must be over there. Even if Rene-27663 may not be as renowned as a Justice League member, he still must be huge. A hero and a significant Green Lantern to boot. That's... just amazing.

Sarah-27633 must be really disappointed in the Builder that she's seen today...

Ready to help the other Sarah tidy up the mess that was left, Rene gives one last look at the two sisters for today. Seeing Katie and Kayla back together is heartwarming after a good 10 minutes that felt like an eternity.

It's a good image to see and one that'll help him sleep well tonight.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Spoiler: Ronin

Show

Happy Thanksgiving
Complication: A Motley Crew of Friends and Family (Relationships)

When you had been growing up, your Aunt Judith had never really had much in the way of money for extravagant meals. Or, in all fairness, much in the way of talent for preparing them. I'm not going to say you owed your life to Kraft and Top Ramen, but I'm not going to say you didn't, either. Even so, she always, always, made the effort on Thanksgiving. It didn't matter if it was just the two of you, Thanksgiving Dinner was Thanksgiving Dinner, by thunder!

Now, when you were growing up, she had played it cautious. Pre-cooked store-bought turkey, Stove Top stuffing, instant mashed potatoes, frozen corn, canned sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce, Pillsbury dinner rolls. She had discovered the green beans+onion straws+cream of mushroom = green bean casserole trick when you were about eight, and that was about as elaborate as it got. She didn't risk dinner trying to prepare it from scratch.

And look, no one's knocking those products. That stuff's tasty. But, when she was growing up, Thanksgiving Dinner had been a whole elaborate home-cooked affair. She still had her parents' recipes, buried in a cookbook in a closet. And she wanted you to be able to have the experiences she had.

So once you were old enough to help and she was a bit more financially secure, she started taking the shot at actually making it from scratch. Just some of the sides, at first (with the packaged stuff ready to sub in if needed). But these days, she went whole-hog. The fact that this had happened the same year she had learned about you joining the X-Men (who, of course, offered you both a standing invitation to join them for Thanksgiving Dinner, offering a darn solid backup option if things went wrong) was probably entirely a coincidence.

Nobody's saying either you or Aunt Judith were master chefs, but the meal was solidly edible a good fifty percent of the time, and had managed to be good another quarter! And had set the entire house on fire a spectacular zero times (so far!)

So, it was ten AM Thanksgiving day. You were just arriving at Aunt Judiths house for what would be a full day of cooking. Realistically, this didn't need to happen. The X-Men put out quite the Thanksgiving spread and their doors were always open. Katie had also invited at least the entire team to her place (and had followed up on the text with one that added, Oh! And bring whoever you want, we'll have plenty of food! followed by a disconcertingly complex string of emojis. She and Kitty would undoubtedly shortly be at war on Facebook posting pictures of their respective meals. You and Aunt Judith could have easily spent Thanksgiving at either or both (Fred's appetite has been well established by this point) of those places without any hassle.

And you know, maybe that's what you'd end up doing, if preparations didn't go so well. But Aunt Judith always wanted to give it a try first. After all, it was tradition.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

So, I realized that throughout the game so far there hasn't really been much screen time for Fred and Judith, so I took the opportunity to set some up. That said, you are welcome to timeskip the cooking, say that the dinner went poorly this year, and head elsewhere if you'd rather have a wider range of NPCs to interact with. Or of course you can roll an untrained Expertise (Cooking) Team Check and see what happens based on that!

Spoiler: Builder

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A Caged Phoenix
Complication: The Ironic Fact That Almost Every NPC Rene Has A Personal Relationship With Is In Some Sort of Prison or Something (Accident, I Guess? Maybe Relationship...)

If there's one thing you could say about Project Tomorrow, it was that it inspired some pretty wild team-ups.

To wit: Be honest, a year ago you probably never would have imagined you'd ever be teaming up with She-Hulk, right?

It was a bright day in Gotham. Well, it was an overcast day in Gotham, but we grade on a curve here. The Project had acquired a couple blocks in one of the more run-down areas of the city. In her civilian identity, Jenn Walters had already done a lot in filing paperwork, acquiring permits, and so on. Now that the legalities were all in order, though, she was here in her heroic identity to help you implement Phase 2.

See, the land the project had purchased was currently filled with old, dilapidated, abandoned buildings. Your job was to replace those with sturdy, clean, comfortable structures that could then be put to use as low-cost housing, shelters, and so on. She-Hulk's job was to, ah, let's call it "requisition the required building materials and free up the necessary space".

Sometimes, a Hulk's just gotta smash.

You were just putting the finishing touches on your fifth building of the day, when you heard someone drop down behind you. A green light cast your shadow out ahead of you, and a stentorian voice said, "Rene Reynolds."

Standing behind you, dressed in full mask and costume and with verdant light shining from his ring, was Hal Jordan. The Green Lantern.

Spoiler: Gethsemane

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...That's Your Evil Plan?
Complication: Old, Dark Flames (Enemy)

It was supposed to be just a simple trip to the bank.

Well, simple was a relative term, anyway. It might be going too far to say demons needed money, even when operating on Earth. But money was definitely useful to them to have. It (love of it, whatever) may or may not have been the root of all evil, but there was no denying that used properly, it could be the root of a rather delicious amount of it. Last time you had been on Earth you'd had the opportunity to put some away. Fifty years of compound interest wasn't nothing, and while you may have no longer needed it to tempt mortals and finance deals and the like, it wasn't like it would hurt to have access to it. Or you could give it to charity or something, whatever.

Now, granted, proving that the accounts were yours would probably be something of a challenge. And it...wasn't impossible that the Home Office had managed to gain control of the accounts in the interim. But still, it was worth trying, and if there was an upside to having your emotions completely flooded out by waves of pure compassion, it had to be immunity to mundane annoyance and frustration, right?

But when you got to the bank...something felt off. A subtle but familiar vibe. It took a few moments to put your finger on it, but because you knew exactly what to look for, it didn't take too terribly long for you to realize...

It wasn't the tellers, but every actual banker in the place was actually a demon.

Spoiler: Sarah

Show

Lotus Hacking

Hawksbill was, of course, equipped to store more than just villains. It was an excellent facility for holding potentially dangerous objects of technology, magic, or other power sources. Not only did it offer robust containment measures, but even if something catastrophic occurred, it wasn't like it could hurt anything this far in the past. There wasn't much opportunity for the butterfly effect when you were so far back that not just butterflies, but insects in general had yet to evolve.

It had taken a bit of effort, after Serum had called SHIELD in, but you had managed to take custody of the Lotus Breaker due in part to the fact that Fury somehow knew about Hawksbill and how secure it was, in part to your sterling heroic reputation, and in part to the fact that the Lotus Breaker Device was really big and you were the one with personal portal technology. I'll leave determining which of those was the most significant factor in the decision as an exercise for the reader.

Now, the ancient Asgardian torture device was sitting inert in whatever area or chamber or bunker or whatever Hawksbill had reserved for such dangerous objects, the six suits of armor - still damaged from the battle - that were tied to the machine lying behind it. Its defensive capabilities had been well established, but they all appeared to be latent, without anyone actually controlling the device. Or...possibly without anyone powering it? Hard to say, really. Maybe both.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I've intentionally left the status of the Breaker Knights ambiguous. Without the armor they're normal humans and U.S. citizens, so they do need to be turned over to proper authorities. That said, Sarah could certainly gain access to them for questioning, if desired.

[SuperCracker]

It was a busy time in Fred’s life. It was the start of the holiday season. In addition to the usual non-stop battle with evil, Fred had a number of other things adding to his plate this year. Going into the Feywyld to pluck a star from the sky for a gift for… cough… someone. Training harder than ever to prepare himself for the upcoming apocalypse. And his yearly battle with the Krampus. (Someone has to save Christmas.) But even with all of that, he was never going to miss Thanksgiving with Jeejee. As gorgeous as the dueling food pictures popping up on his Twitter (@SwordsNShades) were, they would have to wait… to be eaten for seconds and possibly thirds.

Aunt Judith got a knock on her door. When she answered, there he was. Chili Peppers shirt, jeans, and a classic “Kiss the Cook” apron Judith had bought him years and years ago. He wore a Karate Kid-style Rising Sun headband for maximum samurai spirit. “Jeejee,” he declared, “This year… we nail it!”

“The samurai chef has arrived! I double as both kitchen and paring knives.” Neither of those two even knew what a paring knife actually looked like. This was going to be a disaster.

[Zelphas]

Gethsemane stops dead in the doorway of the bank, looking back and forth between the different teller stations as though she is confused as to where to go next.

In reality, her mind is working furiously. Remain undetected? too late; if physical appearance not enough (can assume glamour not effective on other demons), same method to identify others capable to be used by others as well. Flee? Possible, but untenable; demons naturally inquisitive, will follow-up presence of mid-level demon in their workspace. Fight? discarded; numbers, location unlikely to produce favorable result. Obfuscate? Possible; Indigo Ring obscure enough that identification, immediate hostility unlikely. Ramifications of heavy demonic presence within mid-levels of Gotham society cause for further investigation.

Slipping on a nervous smile, Gethsemane walks over to one of the open tellers. "Good morning; there seems to be an issue with an old bank account belonging to me," she begins, acting as though she was simply uncomfortable in larger crowds. Recluse character useful; garners sympathy, promotes mystery, means to other demons that character isn't interested in their business.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Gethsemane is currently using Glamour to look and sound like a middle-aged, brown-haired woman. Will DC 22 to disbelieve.

Deception to pretend to be a demon pretending to be a normal human instead of a redeemed demon pretending to be an unredeemed demon pretending to be a human: (1d20+5)[21] (add 5 if Attractive applies... this is going to go terribly)

[Starsign]

When Rene learned he'd be teaming up with a lawyer, he didn't think he'd be helping with renovation.

When he learned said lawyer is She-Hulk, he couldn't believe he wouldn't be fighting crime!

Project Tomorrow was many things to the Builder; fighting supervillains felt like his number one job. Building and renovation, however, was the task he's most comfortable with. Usually he had to work on his own; after all, a lot of heroes didn't have the architectural knowledge and experience that he did. So it had been a wondrous surprise to get to work alongside She-Hulk renovating a massive lot of Gotham's land; and Rene got actual building tools for the job! He'd been rather tired of patch jobs with just his sticky tongue and clawed hands.

Getting the building materials from the old houses was a trivial task. His reptilian form, besides the incredible speed it worked at, let him carefully detach and remove bricks and wood at a time with precise claws or his heavy tail. It wasn't the quickest but time was not of the essence for the Builder.

*SMASH*

It was, however, for Jenn Walters. Rene found out the hard way that lawyers don't have a luxury of time.

Besides the, in his opinion, reckless destruction of valuable materials, the day had been relatively and wonderfully quiet. Days like these were when Rene is most calm, when his mind wasn't in a panic spiraling into insanity, and when he appreciated his powers most. His clawed hands and feet kept him steady as he slithered up the metal and brick supports and walls. His sticky tongue tightened up anything loose that nails and mortar could not fix. His hardened back scales and general fortitude protected him in the rare case he tumbled off into Gotham's concrete ground. Becoming a reptilian creature sucked; boy did it suck hard for what it's done to Rene's trauma and sanity; but the powers that came with his painful transformation did help make up for that.

The hunched reptilian was nailing down one last shingle on the fifth building, dull sunlight sprinkling down on his plate scales, when he looked up to find Green Lantern right in front of him. Needless to say, Rene still wasn't used to meeting the "big" superheroes of the world and nearly drops his pail of nails in shock. "Oh! Green Lantern. What are you doing here?" The reptilian's eye slits look on with minor twitching at the famous superhero. More specifically, Rene's looking at the clothing and ring.

...How did I ever fit in that? he wonders to himself. He still can't believe his 27633-self became a Green Lantern.

[CandyLaser]

Meanwhile, in the distant past...

Hawksbill Station was a good place for dangerous things. That's why the Joker was there, among other things. And that's why Sarah took the Lotus Breaker there, concealed in the dim recesses of prehistory. She hadn't brought the Knights back here, though. It was distinctly possible that some of them had technical abilities - after all, they had managed to get hold of some Asgardian tech and make it work - and while she was quite confident that her own abilities outpaced theirs dramatically, it seemed foolish to leave them in a place where they could access the Lotus Breaker as well as her own technology.

So while they stewed in SHIELD's custody (or possibly federal prison; she had to check) Sarah was playing with their toys. Her main goal, of course, was to learn more about it and about how it worked. The interface of magic and technology was a subject of increasing interest to her. But of course, her studies weren't merely academic. No, she was the practical kind. And her practical interest was to see if she could make the Lotus Breaker run without a victim inside it. Aside from its value as a weapon, it seemed to allow for wireless power transmission as well as creating a customized virtual environment for its occupant. Right now, though, she was trying to essentially trick the machine into thinking it was occupied, so that it would activate the armor without trapping anyone in a personalized hell.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Spoiler: Happy Thanksgiving

Show

Aunt Judith answered the door, already wearing her own Karate Kid headband and an apron with a picture of a monster truck rolling over some smaller cars and big, metallic-looking letters reading "BIG MEALS COMING THROUGH". She greeted you with a hug and a warm, "Happy Thanksgiving!" When you said this was the year you nail it, her face brightened and she grabbed hold of your arm, saying excitedly, "You won't believe what I found!" She dragged you over to her computer, which you know was a few years out of date but whatever. On it was a YouTube video (it was entirely possible that Aunt Judith had never even heard of YouTube before today, but to be fair it had only started this past February so that was true of a lot of people) titled How To Cook A Thanksgiving Turkey. Not that you guys didn't have recipes and instructions already but hey this let you actually watch it step-by-step.

Wanda got there about an hour after you arrived. Aunt Judith answered the door and greeted her with a warm, "Happy Thanksgiving, dear." Wanda answered with a little smile and nod. She opened her mouth briefly as if to return the words, but they didn't seem to want to come out. After a moment she said instead, "Thank you for inviting me."

Spoiler: ...That's Your Evil Plan?

Show

"Oh I'm sorry about that ma'am. Of course I'll be happy to assist you with that," the bank teller answered with professional courtesy. "Do you have the card associated with the account? Or if not, I'll just need the account number and a photo ID."

A couple of the "bankers" did look at you for a moment or two longer than would qualify as a passing glance, but then turned their attention back to what they were doing with no sign of concern. They were keen enough that that evidently noticed something off, but your illusion was good enough that they couldn't see through it.

Spoiler: A Caged Phoenix

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"Apologies for the interruption. We've been holding the prisoners who remained behind after the Skrull and Kryptonians fled the Peak, pending trial. One of the prisoners, Caer-Sol, has recently been growing...restive." You could practically hear the understatement dripping from the words and splattering on the roof. One only hopes it wouldn't leave a stain. "We are concerned that she may be a danger to herself or others. We have been unable to calm her down, but another of the prisoners, J'onn J'onzz, had indicated that you had made something of a connection with her previously. It is his belief that you might be able to help her regain control. I am here to request that you accompany me to our holding facility to do so. Would that be possible?"

Spoiler: Lotus Hacking

Show

A few things became clear as you examined, tested, and tinkered with the machine. First, it wasn't strictly a synthesis between technology and magic. It didn't work like, say, when Katie augmented your devices, using scientific and technological principles to achieve the basic effect and then adding magic to smooth over those pesky laws of physics when they got in the way. It also wasn't quite a case of sufficiently advanced technology being indistinguishable from magic. As you've noted before, magic was a pattern of existing forces that operated under a system of rules - this device seemed to be able to make use of those forces and rules. Crudely, to be fair - it was ancient Asgardian tech - but in some ways that only made it more useful to you. If normal supertech was like an early 20th century automotive technology, something like the Hammer of Thor or other modern Asgardian technology would be equivalent to your portal tech, whereas the Lotus Breaker would be more like a cutting-edge modern car. Sure, it had computerized systems and modern advancements beyond anything early auto engineering could hope to duplicate, but it was all attached to a more-or-less familiar framework. Point was, you could see the differences, and even extrapolate a bit about how they worked.

So far, though, getting it to work without someone inside of it didn't seem to be happening. You had successfully identified how it transferred energy to the armor over a distance - after all, sending energy a great distance was something you had experience with. This didn't work the way your portal-powered generators did; it relied on more magical principles, with elements of direct energy manipulation and also of principles that Katie probably would have called thaumaturgy. You were knowledgeable enough of magic to know that wasn't all there was to it, but the basic premise of "like affects like" was involved, and was the reason that the armor and machine were constructed of the same sort of material.
Although it wasn't entirely certain whether or not the material itself played an inherent role in the process. If not, or if you could get access to that material (or just, you know, break the Lotus Breaker and armor down for the raw materials) you could probably use it and some of the magitech you had identified here to improve the efficiency of your portal generators even further.

But while the transfer wasn't problematic, it was getting the energy into the Lotus Breaker in the first place that was a problem. Retrofitting the wiring and such to connect to other power sources was, of course, child's play for you. But even so, the machine just didn't seem to use any energy you input. Batteries, generators, whatever. It wasn't that you weren't generating enough energy - hooking it up to a few of your portal generators objectively provided far more raw energy than even a mage of Katie's level could have. It also wasn't an issue with the type of energy - you had access to a few magical devices for experimentation, and it hadn't been able to use their energy either. There was definitely something precluding it from using the energy you were inputting, but it wasn't immediately obvious as to what.

[Starsign]

There is a moment of uncanny stillness, and a painful sense of dread, in Rene as he hears Green Lantern's... orders. Yeah, let's call it that. He sure doesn't sound like he's asking Rene to come. Can Rene blame him? This is Caer-Sol, after all. This was someone who trained with J'onn way back and casually fought Zod during the prison break. It's worth panicking if she's become agitated in some way.

Which is why the reptilian feels his cold blood outright freeze. They've actually turned to him of all people. Normally, Rene would instead suggest whatever kryptonian or skrull therapist there is. He almost opened his many-fanged mouth to mutter that before stopping himself. It... doesn't take a genius to guess why someone would come to Rene about Caer-Sol. The two of them didn't meet since the prison incident but he was practically the only one who willingly thanked her for helping end the prison break. Even then, without her, Rene wouldn't have been able to help fight Gladiator while also dealing with Zod. And Caer-Sol helped despite being a prisoner herself.

To top all that off, she had also lost her cousin to the Misfits and her... personality, to put simply, must make it others to approach or understand her. Even if she trained with two other kryptonians as disciples of martial arts, there must be some sense of isolation from the life she's lived. If nothing else, Rene tried to help, however small it was.

There's a saying that only crazy understands crazy. He has no idea if this is true but he's not the first to doubt it.

Rene rests his clawed hands and feet on the shingles of the new house, setting the pain of nails on a wooden board next to it. "And... I'm able to help?" The question is purely hypothetical beneath the reptilian's slithery, concerned tone. He still can't help but wonder how desperate things must be if they're asking Rene. "Sorry. I've only met Caer-Sol once. I can do what I can, just not sure how much I can help." There's a pause. The thought of the worst-case scenario rushes through Rene's mind. What if he can't help her? Well at least he can say that he tried. If he didn't, he'd be clawing himself over it until the day he dies. However crazy she might be, if not because she's crazy, Rene can't simply reject the chance to help a friend.

He takes a deep breath through his scaly throat before slithering up to the edge of the rooftop. "Lemme just finish up. I'll just be a moment." One sudden green blur later and the house is all finished, nice, clean, and overall ready to be furnished.

...Okay there's a couple signs of a rush job, but She-Hulk will understand, right?

"Okay, I'm ready," the reptilian creature confirms with Green Lantern as Rene gets off the rooftop and onto the dry grass lawn. "How are we, um, going to get up there?" He points a claw upward, assuming Caer-Sol is still on the station that so-nearly got destroyed awhile back. Last time, he got on a shuttle; things sound bad enough that a more direct route may need to be taken.

[CandyLaser]

Traditionally, intelligence was associated with enjoying puzzles and the solving thereof. For Sarah, though, a puzzle was an annoyance. Solving puzzles wasn't enjoyable in itself. What it was was satisfying. A puzzle was an obstruction. It was something that stood in the way of her understanding the world. And when the puzzle was solved (which was inevitable), it was a sign that things were as they ought to be, and that another obstacle had been cleared from her path. Until that point, a puzzle was an annoyance. It was the loose tooth you couldn't help but play with, the bug you couldn't help but scratch.

That meant working with magic was always an irritant, and the Lotus Breaker doubly so. Energy was energy. The fact that this machine wasn't making use of it was mildly infuriating. Her best guess as to why it wasn't working was that there wasn't a mind in the mix. The right move would have been to do a painstaking investigation of all the machine's inputs and outputs, followed by constructing one or more devices to simulate the proper inputs and get the Breaker into the right state to receive the energy she was providing it. But that would take a while, and it wasn't guaranteed to work. There were other, quicker, methods which would allow her to test this hypothesis. She still had the Machinesmith's disembodied intellect around from when he'd been caught poking through her systems, but using him was an obvious bad idea. Somewhat better was using her mind.

So she started prepping herself for a trip into the Lotus Breaker. There were precautions to take: first and foremost, a timed release mechanism, designed to let her out after only twenty seconds in the device. Second: a failsafe for that, and a failsafe for the failsafe. Third: setting up an email dead man's switch in case all the failsafes failed, to alert the rest of the Misfits as to what happened. And finally: predicting the future. Hell, perhaps she could bootstrap paradox her way her way into the answer.

Spoiler: OOC

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I'll use Precognition to get a sense for what will happen if Sarah puts herself in the Lotus Breaker.

[Zelphas]

"Of course," Gethsemane replied in her middle-aged guise, a slight twitch of the lips passing for a smile. She carefully pulled out the card and passed it to the teller, her gaze casually passing over the "bankers" around the building.

Glamour holding? Surprising. Suggests lower-level forces than expected. Mastermind may be below last ranking; if so, account may not be flagged... or may be flagged as call to Lower Downs. Will find out momentarily; expect teller to call banker over after checking card.

[SuperCracker]

Using the power of Youtube, Fred and Judith got to work. Instead of guesswork, they paid attention to the recipe. Fred resisted the urge to cut up vegetables with his sword and he used a proper knife. He still rapid-chopped with a precision that was downright scary – but he didn’t split the cutting board in two like he did last year. There were multiple times as they cooked that Fred silently stuck out his hand and Judith silently high fived. Nailing it!

Together, it was easy to tell that Judith had raised him. They were both huge dorks. She introduced him to music (she was always into funk and old classics; he had his own love for that kind of sounds) and she took him to see classic movies (including, once upon a time, Seven Samurai).

The point is, they had fun.

When Wanda came in, Fred stuck his head out from the kitchen. “Happy Turkey Day! Get in here and help me with the pumpkin pie!” He immediately invited her to partake in their tradition. He gave Wanda a warm hug. “Glad you came,” he said softly. There was a bond between Fred and Wanda, unlikely as it was. Hard not to be when you risk the multiverse to save a life.